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Opinion: Ohioans create own federal budget

Steven Kull
Published 10:38 p.m. ET Feb. 15, 2016

President Barack Obama unveiled his new budget last week. Ohioans would have cut the deficit more than he did, according to a survey developed at the University of Maryland.(Photo: AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Steven Kull is the director of the University of Maryland’s Program for Public Consultation and president of Voice Of the People.

As members of the Ohio congressional delegation consider the president’s just-released proposed budget for FY2017, wouldn’t it be great if they could hear what the citizens of Ohio think about the federal budget? A unique survey from a nonpartisan organization called Voice Of the People has made this possible.

A representative panel of 373 registered Ohio voters, called a Citizen Cabinet, went through an online process in which they were presented the discretionary budget for FY2016 and sources of existing and possible revenue sources (including ones proposed by the president), and asked to craft their own budget. They were told about the deficit and as they made up their budget, got constant feedback showing the impact of their changes relative to the deficit. The survey was developed by the Program for Public Consultation at the University of Maryland and was vetted with congressional staffers from both parties. The panel was recruited by Nielsen-Scarborough.

The results revealed some striking differences and similarities between the president’s budget and “the people’s budget” of Ohio.

The biggest difference is that the majority of Ohioans go further than the president in cutting the deficit. If the president were to get all the changes he proposes – doubtful given the dynamics in Congress – he would reduce the deficit $113 billion for 2017.

The majority of Ohioans surveyed, however, reduce the deficit more than twice as much – $273 billion, through a combination of $71 billion in spending cuts and $202 billion in revenue increases. While President Barack Obama increases some spending items, Ohioans don’t.

Ohioans, like Congress, have substantial differences between Republicans and Democrats. Nonetheless, there is considerable common ground. Majorities of both parties converge on $25 billion of spending cuts, led by cuts to subsidies to defense general operations ($9 billion), agricultural corporations ($4 billion), the intelligence agencies and space program ($3 billion each), and military aid ($2 billion).

But the big money, when it comes to bipartisan agreement among Ohioans, is in the revenue increases both sides embrace – totaling $79 billion.

Some of these are in Obama’s budget. While he is not entirely precise about how he plans to do so, the president proposes increasing tax revenues from the wealthy by $56 billion in 2017, growing to twice that amount by 2024. Among Ohioans, a majority of both Republicans and Democrats favor a 5 percent increase in the income taxes on incomes over $200,000, generating $34 billion. The overall majority goes further, raising income taxes on incomes over $1 million by 10 percent, increasing the total revenue to $49 billion – nearly matching Obama’s proposed short-term increase for 2017, but not his long-term one.

Large majorities from both parties also adopt several other ideas the president proposes. One is taxing carried interest as ordinary income (i.e. doing away with the hedge fund manager’s tax break), generating $1.8 billion. Another is requiring large financial institutions to pay a small fee on their uninsured debt, generating $6 billion. Yet another is raising the top tax rate on capital gains and dividends from 23.8 to 28 percent (yielding $15-22 billion).

Ohioans diverge from the president on defense spending. While last year the president projected the base budget for FY2016 at $534 billion, it now looks like that number will be $522 billion. For 2017, he wants to bump that up a bit to $524 billion. Among Ohioans overall, a majority favors trimming it down to $500 billion. But this is not a bipartisan view – Republicans favor $525 billion.

The online budget process is not restricted to the Citizen Cabinet. Anyone can visit vop.org, make their own budget and send their recommendations to their representatives in Washington.

Naturally, Ohio’s members of Congress should not simply follow the views of their constituents in a mechanical fashion, but it is important for members to know what the people think and effectively, give them a seat at the table.